The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1887-06-05

The Man We Picked Up In the Tawi whose
Nams was ." The Curse"


1.-THE world on land has always wondered
| ut sailor Jacks superstitions," said Capt Har-
| ney Of the brig Alice and Mary and yet no
landsman can mako q trip across the ocean
without feeling something OF the superstition
that clings to men who follow the sea for liv-
ing, Very few Of the sailors so-caled super
| stitions arise from ignorance. Most OF them
| have verltable foundation. You laugh at tho
idea OF Flying Dutohman, and yet you may
find hundreds OF seafaring men, Captains
| mates, and foremast hands, who have seen
| phantom vessels. Jacks dislike to having
corpse on board his ship is natural enough.
Find mo q crew Of landsmen who would
care to ride for daX or more more, In nv wagon a
so has u.s. tho landsmsn. Actors viii not
ana there slen are thousands 81 business men who
are chary about beginning new enterprise on
a. sss VIII fh nd
epd omens ,oppressing, people ashore as well;
toSs Y BUT saS th hs s ssSSs
n naEs ep d Raii.edaSsted lands%sn but YOU
JACK reasons s as intelIisently as he does. The
oceans are mysteries to SsEin w sdnh
vessel which sets sail never to be heard Of
Thsre Is sh to
sea devolops something 70 awe and mystify;. :,
Of s nsds IN 1852 Was
MAZE y brig ssilsa ths III. Iiss sI bafs
da2s 81 VIII smooth
carrying aopg q net than TIVE t6a knots
Ssi two . points sdn to pleE the boat up: Lying q
on hs bsns o
| old man. not over feet high, and just how
1 %Ss 1 sraf ae %ssns SfsseS
ssioT nor had any q us ever seen Isq qss
@as ia fuSP ss ~ iii long and
gray. and he had the widest eyes and ND the the
ae efEsS sfsth up p syst
Imagine our surprise when he not only refused
the beat but Bo and
quantity. and we knew TO Q eertainty that he
well. believing tho man 70 be crazy we
used w1seysr force was tS sHSd~e
were H syns sf e. Hands and feet he Called out
passsbly good English that to put him aboard ard
Duke ras curse our craft 6Y OF tba
moment until he left us he never uttered an a.,
u MG az mot aboard sss The bs s
81 sSq 5a hoist eh her or CO. saw
Tor rs craft. eh There It was, in good English
and as The yawl was named s9 must Ss
san Have s' ssx TSs Cd
answer the iHtsrrogations q the S,, Captain In
ste drank rs did not sppear
thirsty. ,He. was led forward while hls boat
was made fast astssn and I'm telling ELI, you
sos w u hs s'f had
an hour we wers rolling about like q log.
p US The
heayng and rolling breeze enough
our men saw this that they began to whisp s9
81 n' his 9o back back ' on The deck and ses9sd
self as ii highly pleased at something. Our
CAPTAIN was a hard beaded Engilishman. who no
i"oked i' upon the ie Old man as casaway from
tho coast. He couldn't deny that the stranger
was queer specimen. but he laughed at tie
ing 10 bis presence. During the day he made
set his story e But nothing satisfactory came Of
It.. II was Just before shutdown when the last
having been cast OF he seized brass Delaying
a that d We Ssa h% dsa An
We did not have steGrage way all that day.
there here, ps 9n
down for the night heard the men muttering
among themselves. There was gErroup, ground for
after nishtfaii It was acci dentaliy discovered
that we had sprung alsak. and II was after
the iesE ste ss The news Of this disaster
the old 6f and nd he 9sa
Srsater dse sre %o S p ens bsa
them He would not touch either food or
that and whsn ow Sis Of the
rsWaEded Wiz curses When the ' men OF the
on watch were turned In some OF them refused
iSrked in the air. T. gave them no orders, for,
TO tell you the truth, there was much about
Was or ess mysed but he
TOOK care that should MT e, know i; . ,to, ,r0
About o'clock Rd IN 1T the morning t Ely %ateh we
course. It was starlight night, with scattered
clouds driving across the heavens and throw
@ateh wsre on deck and alert such 81
the of watch as had not gone below were
| had looked at tho old mans lashlngs at
o'clock, and they were secure. and he seemed
s1 sssp At 81 there in
and the nio 9Se
her Ssxs. f. had broken lis iashinss By
Of tR Tie men had ' rushed he'd upon him he had ser
ousl hurt two e them He WAS yer
pet H the sasi resrSt his e cons
was preparing to help him dress It when there
thrown off our feet. The mainmast went with
q crash. confusion reiGned above and below,
hubub was the Captain calling for US 10 lower
the boats, We had struck q water-loggcd
craft Of some sort and the collisiop had set u
yaYl down, tossed In keg OF water
and bag OF biscuit. and seven Of
us got away In her Just as the brig was set
Ting down. There were four others and tho
cook. but they had either been killed by tho
| fall OF the mast or were held in tho tangle
along the decks 1t wasn't over seven or eight
minutes after the collision before the brig was
be remembered. VIZ who p got away w" We're re
picked up next morning, and to this day I havo
never been able to solye the mystery about
| OF our crew heleve, that he was a Soa Cure,
| and that had we passed him by, the brig would
| have safely made her port. He lay in wait for